


Bite Sized: Voltron

by pensversusswords



Series: Bite Sized [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-07-27 05:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7604881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensversusswords/pseuds/pensversusswords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of all my short Voltron one-shots. The vast majority will be Shiro/Allura, but other ships will likely appear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shiro wakes from a nightmare (Shiro/Allura)

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings and a short summary will be included at the beginning of each chapter. These are all fics that were originally posted on my [tumblr](http://pensversusswords.tumblr.com/), and are under the 1k word mark.  
> \--
> 
> ** Minor PTSD/anxiety warning for this first chapter.

Shiro wakes with his heart in his throat and a strangled scream on his breath, his hands scrabbling blindly at the sheets around him. He shudders, blinking sleep and nightmares out of his eyes as he struggles to catch his breath.

Like most nights, he finds himself shaking and clutching his arm at the juncture where flesh meets metal. 

Unlike most nights, he realizes after a few moments that what woke him from his nightmare was a soft hand on his shoulder; a quiet, soothing voice in his ear. He comes back to himself in increments. He feels the warmth of her hand first, then the soothing motion she is doing with her thumb, then he catches her words. 

“You’re all right,” Allura’s familiar voice is saying. “You’re safe. You’re here with me in the castle and I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Do you hear me Shiro? You’re safe here with me. ”

Instead of answering, Shiro pries his fingers off his arm and moves it to where Allura’s hand is on him. He places it gently over hers, giving it the faintest squeeze, reassuring that he can hear her. 

He hears the catch in her breath when she realizes he’s coherent. For a short moment, Shiro hates himself for worrying her. 

“You came back to me,” she says. Shiro feels her lean forward to rest her forehead against the back of his neck. 

“Always,” Shiro rasps. His throat feels like someone rubbed sandpaper on it. He winces; that means he’d been screaming for a while. “You woke me up again.”

“Yes, and I’ll do it next time,” Allura answers. She somehow manages to keep her voice soft and yet it hardens with that stubbornness that Shiro is just beginning to become accustomed to. 

Shiro’s eyes fall shut and he takes in a breath. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Allura presses a kiss to the back of his neck. “Don’t flatter yourself, darling. I’m much stronger than you.”

Despite himself, Shiro cracks a smile. They’ve had this argument before; months of being together and they were still trying to figure out sleeping arrangements, considering one of them had night terrors that resulted in him thrashing in his sleep. 

Shiro hates it, but since they’ve had the argument before, he figures it can wait until morning. Instead of saying what he’s thinking, Shiro picks up Allura’s hand from his shoulder and turns his hand so that he can press a kiss to the center of her palm. “Thank you,” he says. “For being here.”

Allura leans into him, and Shiro never wants her to back away. “Always.”


	2. Allura is injured, Shiro worries (Shiro/Allura)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.

“You should really be more careful.” 

The reprimanding nature of Shiro’s words is severely undermined by the fact that his voice was filled with concern, and that he is currently sitting on the floor by her feet, very gently wrapping her injured arm with a familiar determined crease between his brows that Allura always finds endearing. 

It hurts like hell, but it’s always nice to be on the receiving end of Shiro’s complete attention. 

“Yeah, you really should,” Lance pipes up from where he’s standing next to the healing pod that Coran is currently readying for Allura. “I mean, because we love you and all but also Shiro is always an absolute wreck when you get hurt and it’s kind of painful to watch.”

Shiro pauses momentarily to shoot Lance a look. “I was _concerned_ , just like I would be if any of you got hurt.”

“Oh please,” Allura interrupts, verbally shrugging it off. “Any one of you would have done the same thing. Plus, it’s only a broken arm at most. I’ll be back to normal in no time at all.”

Shiro frowns up at her. “Allura–”

“Shiro,” she interrupts, her voice firm. “I assessed the situation and knew the risks. I knew the odds and I knew it was worth the risk. I made a choice as a leader to _take_ that risk.”

The frown doesn’t go away, but Shiro sighs as he finishes wrapping her arm and leans forward to rest his head on her knee. 

“You scared me,” he mumbles, curling one hand around her ankle.

“Part of the job, love,” she says, reaching out with her good hand to run her fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry for scaring you,” she adds on, because she _is_ , even though she knows it’s unavoidable. Like she said; it’s part of the job. 

“Before you guys start getting mushy,” Pidge says, their arms crossed over their chest. “This time, remember that we’re all in the room with you, right?”

“Aw, leave them alone, they’re cute,” Hunk interjects on their behalf. Allura smiles at him and he returns it easily. “I’m glad you got out of there okay, Princess.” 

“Thank you, Hunk.” 

“All ready to go,” Coran announces. He claps his hands together in satisfaction as the pod whirrs open. 

Shiro is up in an instant, swooping Allura up into his arms carefully and carrying her over to the pod. 

“Excuse me,” she protests, “my legs are working just fine, thank you.” 

“Indulge me,” he says, setting her down and helping to her maneuver into the pod. He kisses her forehead, and when he backs away, he’s grinning at her. “Or next time I’ll make a fuss when you decide it’s necessary to bridal carry me when I get even the slightest bit injured.”

She opens her mouth to retort back at him, but ends up snapping her mouth shut. 

He’s definitely got her there. 


	3. Shiro and Allura visit Earth (Shiro/Allura)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.

They landed here hours ago and the light has not yet begun to dim from Allura’s eyes.

She just takes everything with the exuberance one would expect from someone experiencing a new world, and Shiro loves every moment of watching Allura explore with eyes and hands. She’s radiant–she always is, but right now she is alight with breathtaking wonder. Shiro isn’t sure he’s ever seen her this carefree and happy.

“What’s this called?” she asks, crouching down to cup the head of a bright yellow flower. Shiro thinks about how beautiful the colour looks against the darkness of her skin; he thinks about how gentle her strong hands are.

He loves her hands.

“That’s a daffodil, I think.” He shrugs and laughs when she frowns up at him disapprovingly. “I don’t know the names of all the flowers on Earth.”

“Are there really that many?”

Shiro shrugs again and sits down beside her. He crosses his legs and watches her smell the flower again; he knows he has a stupid-happy smile on his face but he can’t bring himself to care. “Yeah, and I don’t really know much about any of them.”

“What a shame,” she sighs, finally abandoning the flower and shuffling over to sit next to him on the grass. “Your planet is so beautiful.”

_You’re beautiful_ , Shiro thinks. _Your face is more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen on this planet. You’re my favourite thing to look at._

“I’m happy I got to show it to you,” he says out loud.

She smiles at him then, and he tugs her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead and just takes it all in.


	4. Shiro realizes he is in love with Allura (Shiro/Allura)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.

Shiro realized that he was in love with Allura in a single, quiet moment.

He might have blinked and missed it. He might have looked the other way; he might not have caught her eye; he might not have been standing in the right place at the right time. Of course, Shiro knows that he would have gotten there eventually, but as it was, he wouldn’t trade that moment for anything in the world.

In the aftermath of taking down a fleet of Galra ships that had snuck up on them during the night, Allura was standing at her post, looking like a vision despite the fact that her face was drawn and weary. Her back was ramrod straight, her eyes tired but alert as she assessed the holographic screens in front of her with sharp, alert eyes.

Whether she was acting as a princess or as a commander–or both–she always managed to stand straight and tall. It was only once they were alone that she would sink into his arms and let her muscles go lax, allow Shiro to carry her. It always felt so intimate seeing her like that, because he was fairly certain that not many ever saw her without her composure.

He felt lucky to be the one she allowed to see her like that. He felt so lucky to be the one she chose to lean on.

It wasn’t one of those vulnerable moments when he realized that he loved her. It was that moment, the one that was cracking under the weight of responsibility and obligations, when he could see how much she was straining to keep her shoulders steady. It was in that moment when she looked up, and for a split second their eyes met.

It wasn’t until that moment that Shiro knew what it was like to be someone’s safe haven. He didn’t know what it meant for someone to look at you and feel alright for a second because you’re there, and that’s all they need from you. All they need is your existence, all they need is you in their presence, and they are safe.

Shiro saw that on her face, and he instantly felt like someone had ripped the floor out from underneath him. She looked at him, and for an instant, her expression softened, the line between her brows disappeared and a private, gentle smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Oh, her face seemed to be saying. If you’re here, it will all be okay.

It didn’t last long. She had a job to do, she had people to be strong for. As she turned away and blustered on through her responsibilities, Shiro stood there with his heart beating wildly in his chest.

He loved her. He wanted those quite, secret moments of comfort; he wanted those brief moments of peace in the midst of chaos. He wanted her to look at him like that. He wanted to be that for her, more than anything in the world.

Shiro knew he loved her in an instant. He could have missed it, but he didn’t, and because he looked and saw her face, his entire world changed for the better.


	5. SEX MACHINE: Lance and Allura get matching shirts (Shiro/Allura, Keith/Lance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.

Keith is the one who notices first. Allura knows this because when she and Lance enter the coffee shop and slide into their regular seats across from Shiro and Keith with their drinks in hand, she is watching both of them carefully for their reactions. 

Shiro looks up from his textbook, smiles, and leans across the table to give her a brief hello and a peck on the cheek, before returning to attacking his book with a yellow highlighter. Allura can’t help but be a little disappointed, but she’s not going to try to draw his attention to it herself. She wants to see the surprise on his face when he notices it on his own. 

Keith on the other hand, smiles and shakes his head with fond exasperation when Lance gives him a rather loud, obnoxious kiss on the lips, says “hello handsome” with a wink, and sits down across from him. 

Lance’s butt has barely touched the seat when Keith glances down at his boyfriend’s chest and flushes. His eyes snap up to Lance’s face. 

“What are you  _wearing_?” he demands. 

Lance pretends to look surprised. “Oh, this old thing?” he says innocently, brushing his fingers across the words “SEX MACHINE” that are emblazoned across his chest. “Me and Allura found them at the mall, aren’t they great?”

“You and Allura–” Keith’s eyes dart over to Allura and flick down to her chest. 

He elbows Shiro sharply in the side. 

“Ow,” Shiro protests, his voice muffled by a pencil he has jammed between his teeth. “What on earth was that for?” he demands as he sets the pencil aside, turning to narrow his eyes at Keith. 

“Please look at what our significant others are wearing,” Keith says weakly. 

“What they’re wear–Oh.”

When Shiro looks at her with his face progressively growing red, she gives him her best smirk and tilts her head to one side, putting on an innocent act that she is sure rivals Lance’s. “What’s wrong, honey?” she asks. “You don’t like it?”

“Oh my god,” Keith says, which sets Lance off laughing. Shiro doesn’t seem capable of talking yet. 

“Um,” he says slowly, pausing to swallow before continuing. “That’s… a nice shirt.”

“Isn’t it?” she says sweetly. 

“Of course,” Shiro chokes. 

Meanwhile, Keith is glaring at Lance who is still giggling. “You broke Shiro,” Keith accuses. 

Shiro shakes his head. “Nope, no I’m good, just.” 

“See?” Keith exclaims. “You broke him.”

“Please,” Lance snorts. He leans back in his chair and arches a brow. “You should see your face right now, babe. You have no room to talk.”

“Shut up,” Keith mumbles, glancing away. Lance shrugs, grinning.

“Well,” Allura says, taking a sip of her coffee. “I think the shirt suits me quiet nicely. Don’t you?”

Shiro manages a weak laugh. “Well.” 

“What’s wrong Shiro,” Lance asks. He tosses an arm over Allura’s shoulder and winks at Shiro. “Too shy to admit that your girlfriend is a sensual sex machine?”

Shiro shoots Lance a look. Some of the pink has faded from his cheeks at this point, but it’s still there so his glare at Lance is hardly intimidating. 

“No,” Shiro says, and oh boy, Allura knows that expression; his voice is clear and deliberate but his mouth twitches and his eyes are gleaming with mischief. He fixes Allura with a smile and reaches out to take her hand over the table. “Pretty sure anyone who has stayed in a room next to ours knows that Allura is more than capable of making me scream.”

Keith chose the wrong moment to take a drink; he chokes and sputters. Lance is caught between laughter and patting Keith’s back to make sure he’s alright. 

Allura, on the other hand, is grinning across the table at Shiro, who is looking back at her a little bit shyly and definitely embarrassed about what he just said, but Allura can see some smugness hovering around his mouth. She loves when he blushes like that, and she loves it even more when he blushes like that because he is flustered thanks to her. 

What can she say; she likes seeing the effect she has on her boyfriend. It’s nice, considering he has the same effect on her.


	6. Allura dreams of Altea (no pairings, Allura centric)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.

Allura dreams about Altea more than she’d like to. As much as she misses it with a heavy ache deep in her bones, it only appears in her nightmares. She is tired of reliving Altea’s destruction over and over again. 

She dreams about it burning in front of her eyes, her home shattered as Galra soldiers took everything she ever dared to call her own. Often in these dreams her hands are bound behind her back so she can’t _do_ anything, but what could she do anyways if her hands were free? Allura watches, helpless, as the world burns. She weeps quietly; she cannot protect Altea or her people. Why should they have to bear her grief as well as their own?

She’s never on Altea when it is destroyed. Instead, she is suspended in space, staring down at her home from above as it is torn apart. She watches from the outside, screaming until her throat is raw and her wrists are raw from trying to break free from her restraints. 

She’s always alone. Always. 

Allura doesn’t sleep well. She closes her eyes and all she sees is her father’s face, her nightmares, her palace burning. Her brain is cluttered with images of everything she has survived and everything she has lost. She can’t stand it. 

She tries to sleep, if not for herself then for everyone who rely on her. The team. The galaxy. There are a lot of people counting on her; she doesn’t have time to lose sleep over her grief. She has a job to do after all, and she _can’t_ afford to fail this one. Failure is not an option. 

Trying to sleep doesn’t change much. Try as she might, she cannot will her pain away. Her stubbornness could move mountains, but it cannot silence the symphony of loss and regret that rages in her mind day and night. 

Allura wonders often if she will ever find peace. 

She wonders if she could find it in herself to enjoy it if she ever did. 

(The answer, she suspects, is no.)


	7. "Rise and fucking shine, motherfucker" (Keith/Lance)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.

Lance does not wake up peacefully. He wakes up when a soft object collides with his face and makes a solid thump. 

“Oof,” Lance groans. Still half asleep, he turns over onto his other side, not even bothering to check what had woken him. That could be dealt with later at a more wakeful hour. 

“Oh no you don’t,” a familiar voice says, and suddenly there is a hand on his shoulder pushing him onto his back, and then the firm weight of another person’s body plopping down on his midsection. “Holy shit, you’re a deep sleeper.”

Groaning in protest, Lance creaks his eyes open. Keith is sitting on him, straddling his waist, and holding a pillow; his weapon of choice for the morning, apparently. He’s looking down at Lance with a mix of exasperation and amusement, which is incredibly endearing when it is paired with a bad case of mullet bed head. 

The thing is, though, is that Keith will still be just as cute when he wakes up later. So, with that in mind, Lance throws an arm over his face. “Ten more minutes,” he mumbles.

“Uh uh,” Keith says and gives him another soft thwack with the pillow. “Rise and fucking shine, motherfucker. We slept in.” 

Lance doesn’t bother moving his arm. “For what? We’re in space, Keith. We literally have nowhere to be.”

“Breakfast,” Keith says. “And then training. I’m helping you with hand to hand today, remember?” 

“But we have all day,” Lance whines. 

“Lance.”

Lance moves his arm from his face and narrows his eyes up at his boyfriend. “Keith.”

Keith sighs. “All right. Well you leave me no other choice.”

And then, before Lance even has a moment to process what on earth is going on, Keith is slipping his hands under his pyjama shirt and tickling him. 

Lance lets out a screech and tries to wriggle away from Keith’s hands, but he’s too nimble and quick. Keith grabs him when he tries to scoot to the other side of the bed, and commences tickling him again. It doesn’t take long for Lance to be absolutely breathless with laughter, his voice shaking with it. 

“Oh my god, you are _evil_ , okay I yield! I’m tapping out, you got me. I _yield_ , get _off_ of me, you big jerk.” 

Keith does not get off of him. Instead, he collapses on top of Lance, who has ended up on his back, and settles with his face right above Lance’s. He looks unbelievably smug. 

“I win,” he says. If Lance wasn’t too busy catching his breath and being grumpy about being tickled into submission, he wouldn’t have been able to resist the temptation to kiss that smug smirk off of Keith’s face. 

“The asshole of the year award?” Lance snipes. “Congrats, well done.”

Keith shrugs, completely nonplussed. “Well, now that you’re awake, we can go get breakfast, huh?”

Lance sighs. “You’re the worst.”

Keith just shrugs again, grabs Lance’s wrist and tugs him out of bed. For some reason, Lance follows without resisting. 


	8. Shiro risks his life, Allura is angry and scared (Shiro/Allura)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.

Allura is a vision when she’s angry. 

Terrifying, but frighteningly beautiful. Most times, everyone tries to avoid provoking Allura into this state, but Shiro hadn’t seen any other option at the time. He doesn’t regret it. 

He does, however, still have some sense in him, so when Allura storms towards him with fire in her eyes, he does feel a twinge of something unpleasant in his stomach. 

“You cannot do things like that,” she snaps, coming to a halt right in front of him. She glares daggers up at him, her mouth pressed into a thin, furious line. 

“I’m sorry,” he says honestly. He’s not sorry he’d risked himself to save her, but he is sorry that he has upset her. “I had no other choice.”

“That is incorrect,” Allura bites out. “You should have fallen back like I ordered you to.”

Shiro is shaking his head before she even finishes speaking. “I wasn’t going to leave you, Princess.”

“I am your commanding officer, you must _obey my orders_ –”

“Not when your life is on the line.”

Allura huffs with exasperation. “Our lives are _always_ on the line, Shiro,” she says. “I chose to put myself in a dangerous position and that should have been the end of it. You had no place to undermine my orders.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Shiro shoots back. “I just stand there and watch you die when I know there’s a chance that I can save you?”

“If that is what must be done, then yes. That is exactly what I suggest.”

“That is unfair.”

“I fail to see how,” Allura bites out.

“You have done the same for me,” Shiro exclaims. She has. Multiple times, even though he has insisted she save herself. She hadn’t listened in those situations either. 

“That is different.”

“It isn’t.” 

“You are wrong.”

Shiro steps forward, a flare of fear and anger churning in his stomach at the mere thought of what Allura is suggesting. They’re nose to nose now; Shiro wants to grab her and gather her close, he wants to hold her to his chest and never let her go. He would, but Allura is radiating “don’t touch me” vibes and he knows not to touch when it is unwanted. 

Instead, he draws in a deep breath before speaking, willing the discomfort roiling inside of him to settle. “Allura, I respect you. You are an excellent leader and you know far more about any of this than I will ever know. I trust you and will follow you wherever you need me to, because I believe in your cause, and I believe in you. If you tell me right now to not act in the future when we are in a similar situation, I will listen to you, I swear. But Allura, I–” Shiro’s voice breaks, and he swallows thickly around a lump in his throat as he continues. “Please don’t make me promise to leave you behind. I couldn’t–I _can’t_ do that. I’m not strong enough to leave you behind.”

“Shiro…”

“Please don’t make me promise you that,” Shiro implores, and he can hear the plea naked in his voice. He doesn’t care. “I will if you ask me, and I won’t resent you for it, but please. Don’t.”

Allura stares at him, her head tilted up a little bit to look at him with wide, glassy eyes. Some of her fury has faded; her eyes aren’t blazing like they were, her posture has relaxed somewhat, her fists are no longer clenched at her sides. She still looks angry, but she also looks fearful, maybe a little bit small and vulnerable. 

Shiro is aching to touch her. He resists, but he wants to so badly.

She doesn’t speak for what feels like longer than it probably is, just looking up at him with that searching expression. 

To his surprise, Allura does not break the stillness between them by speaking. Instead, her head drops and she leans into Shiro until she is able to press her forehead against his shoulder. 

Shiro is frozen with surprise for a fraction of a second before he comes back to himself and allows his arms to wind gently around her waist, pulling her in close like he’s been wanting to do all night. She lets him, and they end up with their bodies pressed against each other, the side of Shiro’s face pressed against her hair. 

For the first time since he realized Allura was in trouble earlier that day, his heart finally feels like it can settle in his chest. His anchor, his Princess, grounds him and fills him with a sense of sureness that he misses when she steps out of his sight and into danger. 

“I could not bear it if I lost you,” Allura says finally, her voice softer and more subdued, breaking over some of the words. Shiro’s arms tighten around her and his heart clenches painfully in his chest. “I have lost so much. I cannot lose you as well.”

“I know,” Shiro says softly, “but can’t you see that I feel the same?”

Instead of answering, Allura burrows in closer to him. 

“I don’t want to live a life knowing that I could have saved you and I didn’t do everything in my power to keep you safe,” Shiro murmurs. 

“I do not either,” Allura admits. “I… I was angry, but I would have done the same if it were you.”

Shiro lets out a soft, broken laugh. “Somehow, I knew that. Remember that time with the–”

“I know what you are about to say and I advise you to keep quiet,” Allura says gruffly, but it is without heat. “I remember it just fine.”

“Good,” Shiro laughs, and turns his face so he can drop a kiss onto her hair. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“Yes, well,” Allura huffs, “you scared me first.”

“That I did.”

They stand in silence for a while, Allura engulfed in Shiro’s embrace and Allura’s face pressed into the crook of his neck, her breath playing across his skin every time she exhales. He soaks her warmth in and lets her huddle close; he knows that he is nowhere near willing to let go of her at this moment, barring universe ending catastrophes. 

Eventually, she speaks, pulling them out of the serenity of the moment. 

“So what now?” she asks, pulling away just enough to look up at him, all traces of anger gone. Instead, she looks hesitant and more soft, less sure of the situation. 

“I don’t know,” Shiro says honestly. “I guess the best we can do is accept that we will both protect each other if it is in our power to do so.”

Allura sighs and leans back in to hide her face in Shiro’s neck. “I suppose we must,” she says. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come join me on my [tumblr](http://pensversusswords.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
